Sun Belt player of the year Ryan Aplin doesn't doubt the Red Wolves can crank the Top 25 and be a consistent Sun Belt winner under new coach Gus Malzahn. (Mark Wagner)

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

With the Sun Belt Conference champion Red Wolves headed to the GoDaddy.com Bowl looking for an 11th win, quarterback Ryan Aplin now knows what the program is capable of achieving. So, when new Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn — hired Wednesday to replace Hugh Freeze – began talking about turning the program into a consistent Top 25 program, the Red Wolves starting quarterback wasn't caught off guard.